As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

X-MEN: FOREVER #1
“A Ghost”
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Luca Maresca
Colour artist: Federico Blee
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller, Jay Bowen & Kat Gregorowicz
Editor: Jordan D White

X-MEN: FOREVER. There have been two previous series called X-Men Forever (plus a sequel X-Men Forever 2), neither of which have anything to do with this book. The official solicitations and the trailer page give the title for this book as X-Men: Forever, with a colon. The cover says X-Men Forever. The credits page has it both ways. I’ll go with the solicitations.

COVER / PAGE 1. An unconscious Jean Grey lying in a Phoenix-shaped pool of blood in what appears to be a snowbound forest. This doesn’t happen in the issue, though we do see Jean lying in a circle of blood on page 12.

PAGE 2. Flashback: Irene and Raven attend a concert.

This is the first performance of Elgar’s Enigma Variations, which took place at St James’ Hall on 19 June 1899. Irene and Nathaniel Essex both mentioned having been at this performance in the flashback that opens Immortal X-Men #1. We were told there that Irene had had a fit at the opening of the Nimrod variation; Sinister remembered someone having a fit but didn’t know Irene at the time. More of that scene shortly.

The establishing shot in panel 1 is pretty much a copy of a drawing of the Hall in 1858, artist unknown. (It happens to be the picture that illustrates the Hall’s Wikipedia entry but hell, it’s out of copyright.)

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As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

RESURRECTION OF MAGNETO #3
“Falls the Shadow”
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Luciano Vecchio
Colour artists: David Curiel & Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. The Shadow King grips Magneto.

PAGES 2-4. Annihilation confronts Storm.

Issue #2 ended with Storm and Magneto arriving together in a black space and being confronted by what was strongly implied to be the Shadow King; that’s confirmed in this scene. Somehow, since the last issue Storm has been separated from Magneto and is now being confronted by Annihilation instead of the Shadow King. We’ll see later on that Storm can apparently unite with Magneto again through an effort of will, so either this is an illusion, or at least it’s the sort of magical weirdness that Storm is in a position to override once she understands it.

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As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

WOLVERINE vol 7 #45
“Sabretooth War, part 5: X Marks the Spot”
Writers: Victor LaValle & Benjamin Percy
Artist: Geoff Shaw
Colour artist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER / PAGE 1. Well, that’s a big X with Wolverine and Sabretooth at the sides, a Stark Sentinel at the top, and the three main alt-Sabretooths at the bottom – although “Cap” Sabretooth died last issue.

PAGES 2-4. Sabretooth returns to Krakoa.

The Stark Sentinels have been guarding Krakoa (to little effect) ever since the Hellfire Gala.

As Sabretooth points out, he was banished to the Pit right at the start of the Krakoan era (in House of X #6), so he never really knew the place.

Sabretooth has an Orchis ship because his Station Five base was stolen from Orchis in the Sabretooth & The Exiles miniseries.

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As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

X-MEN vol 6 #32
“From Emma, With Love”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Phil Noto
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Magik and Shadowkat fight Orchis.

PAGES 2-3. Orchis go after the Mykines Island Lighthouse Keeper.

“The site of the so-called ‘Mutant Massacre’.” X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023, where Orchis forced most of the mutants off Earth, slaughtered the human guests in attendance, and blamed the mutants for it.

The Lighthouse Keeper, who’s never been named, was shown as either flirting with Jumbo Carnation or perhaps being in a relationship with him in that issue, and also in Marauders vol 1 #17. We’re told here that he “used to travel the world” with Jumbo, which really makes no sense if he’s meant to be a lighthouse keeper, but perhaps this is supposed to be shared history from before he came here.

Why have Orchis only just remembered this inconvenient witness sitting here with (as far as they know) no defence? Look, they just haven’t, alright.

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As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

DEAD X-MEN #2
“Army of Me”
Writer: Steve Foxe
Artists: Peter Nguyen, Bernard Chang & Guillermo Sanna
Colour artist: Frank Martiin
Letterer: Cory Petit
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. The X-Men surrounded by Ultron Sentinels.

Not only are three very different artists credited for this issue, but issue #1 also credited three artists, and only one (Bernard Chang) worked on both issues. Nonetheless, these are the originally solicited artists.

PAGES 2-4. The cyborg Moira arrives in her eighth life.

Last issue, the X-Men visited one of the abortive timelines created by Mr Sinister’s Moira Engine and met that world’s version of Moira MacTaggert, a cyborg who was building a weapon to “cut a path” back to her first life with a view to altering her entire history. The issue ended with her getting the last component that she needed (a shard of mysterium).

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As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

RESURRECTION OF MAGNETO #2
“The Weight of the World”
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Luciano Vecchio
Colour artists: David Curiel & Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Storm confronts Magneto at his memorial – a straightforward scene from the comic.

PAGES 2-4. Flashback: Magneto acquires a magic key.

This is a flashback to Giant-Size X-Men: Magneto #1, a one-shot from 2020. It’s the issue where Magneto buys an island from Namor the Sub-Mariner, in order that Emma can use it as the location of the first Hellfire Gala. In return, Magneto helps Namor to open a large metal doorway in the Molloy Deep, bearing the seal of the Old Kings of Atlantis (“Uhari, I think”). Inside, after fighting a kraken for a few pages, they encounter three apparent witches – the green one seen in this flashback, and two others who are just out of shot. The green witch challenges them to choose correctly between a “spiral” (a shell) and a stone in order to return to the surface. Namor chooses the shell and is immediately attacked by the thing which is on his face in the flashback. The witch then challenges Magneto to make the same choice; Magneto notices that there is a third plinth, apparently vacant, and chooses it. The witch then gets very angry but hands over the key seen here.

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As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

WOLVERINE vol 7 #44
“Sabretooth War, part 4”
Writers: Benjamin Percy & Victor LaValle
Penciller: Cory Smith
Inker: Oren Junior
Colour artist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER / PAGE 1: Sabretooth stalks Wolverine in a graveyard full of the graves of people Wolverine loved, or at least felt responsible for. I say that because Quentin Quire makes the list, although arguably an awkward father/son relationship is intended between the two of them.

PAGE 2. The Greenhouse residents clear up after the Sabretooth Army’s attack.

The bonfire presumably contains the body parts of the people who were killed in issue #41. The lone Cuckoo next to the bonfire is Phoebe, Quentin’s ex-girlfriend, whom he brought back to the Greenhouse in X-Force #47. Other than Black Tom and Sage, the mutants inside the Greenhouse seem to be generics.

PAGES 3-5. Aurora sews up Wolverine.

She’s reattaching his hands and feet after he tore free of his bonds in issue #42. It was all rather silly. Aurora and Akihiro’s relationship was established when they were in the cast of X-Factor.

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As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

RISE OF THE POWERS OF X #2
“Out of Space”
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: RB Silva
Colour artist: David Curiel
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Rasputin IV in battle.

PAGE 2. Moira just before her powers emerged.

Not exactly a flashback, because this is narrated by Enigma, who is outside normal time. This is Moira MacTaggert in her tenth life, reliving childhood as she always has to, while waiting to be old enough to try her newest idea. Enigma is apparently going to offer her another option that she hasn’t thought of – possibly another way out of being stuck in a time loop. (Though note that Moira apparently never tries to end the loop by committing suicide before her powers emerge.) More of that later.

We don’t get a clear shot of Moira’s mother, but this is Lady Kinross. She has been seen on panel before – she can be seen from behind in some of Moira’s earlier lives in House of X #2 – but she’s never done anything significant.

PAGES 3-4. Enigma’s montage.

The panels shown here are:

• Page 3 panel 1: The MacTaggert family home, as seen in House of X #2.
• Page 3 panel 2: Jean Grey making contact with Phoenix at the climax of X-Men #100. Enigma reminds us again that Phoenix can defeat Dominions, something that was also mentioned last issue.
• Page 3 panel 3: This is apparently meant to be young Scott Summers being thrown to safety by his parents when the Shi’ar attack, as seen in flashback in Uncanny X-Men #156. However, he really ought to be clutching his younger brother Alex. Enigma says that Scott’s parents are “gone forever, in every meaningful way” because he doesn’t reunite with his father Corsair until well into adulthood, and Corsair never returns to Earth. The “new parents” are presumably Mr Sinister (who secretly ran the orphanage where Scott grew up) and Professor X; Enigma doesn’t seem terribly impressed by either of them.
• Page 3 panel 4: Cyclops awaits his trial in Fall of the House of X #1. Scott has been dreaming in that series that Jean will save him.
• Page 3 panel 5: This seems to be M/Penance fighting Sentinels, presumably part of the fightback against Orchis in Fall of the House of X, and having little to do with Enigma’s narration. Jean is “dying along with the Phoenix” thanks to Mother Righteous’ botched attempt to use the Phoenix to ascend to Dominionhood, as seen in the Jean Grey miniseries and recent issues of Immortal X-Men.
• Page 4 panel 1: The abortive timeline that we saw in the previous issue.
• Page 4 panel 2: Young Charles Xavier squabbles with his stepbrother Cain Marko. The man in the background ignoring the whole thing is Cain’s father, Kurt Marko.
• The remainder of the page sees Professor X escaping Enigma’s view by slipping into the No-Place where we saw him last issue.

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As always, this post contains spoilers, andpage numbers go by the digital edition.

X-FORCE vol 6 #49
“We Need to Talk About Beast”
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Robert Gill
Colour artist: GURU-eFX
Letterer: Joe Caramanga
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER / PAGE 1. Beast and Wonder Man burst forth, with X-Force in the background. It’s a homage to the cover of Giant-Size X-Men #1.

PAGES 2-4. The Beast raids the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station.

This is the Krakoa-era Beast. He’s wearing the suit of Krakoan armour that he stole from the Greenhouse last issue. According to page 10, the component he steals here is a “nuclear reactor”; we see him on page 11 welding it into his “black hole gun”. The US military has experimented with portable nuclear reactors, but not that portable. Still, this is the Marvel Universe.

Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station is a real place. According to its website, it’s “America’s premier weapons station family [sic], and winner of the 2021 Commander, Navy Region Southwest Installation Excellence Award for Small Installations.” Basically, it provides weapons storage and support to the US Pacific fleet.

PAGE 5. Recap and credits.

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As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

WOLVERINE vol 7 #43
“Sabretooth War, part 3”
Writers: Victor LaValle & Benjamin Percy
Artist: Geoff Shaw
Colour artist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER / PAGE 1. Sabretooth and Wolverine in their Team X days.

PAGES 2-3. Flashback: Team X on a mission in Nicaragua.

Specifically, Sabretooth, Wolverine and Maverick (the other Team X member who shows up regularly in this book). So far as we can tell at this stage, this is just Sabretooth nostalgically recalling a random mission – with somewhat meta comments about nostalgia, this being a strand of continuity that dates back to the 1990s. The main point is really that Sabretooth looks back on these days fondly, which ties to the idea later that he wants to bring Wolverine back to this sort of persona too. In the next scene, Sabretooth seems to suggest that his team of alt-Creeds is also an attempt to recapture his sense of belonging from these days.

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